Emotional Intelligence as a Predictor of Job Satisfaction and Job Performance (original) (raw)

2020, The International Journal of Business & Management

Research suggests emotional intelligence can predict certain employee attributes that can ultimately help organizations maximize workforce output (Castillo,, & Del Valle, 2017). The purpose of this study is twofold. First, the research aimed to test the predictability of EI against three dimensions of employee well-being in relationship to job satisfaction (JS) and job performance (JP). Second, this study aimed to contribute to (EI) research and its validity as a theory and business management tool. 1.1. Overview of Emotional Intelligence (EI) The purpose of the literature review focused on EI literature as it related to the workplace. The first portion of the report provided background information on the main contributors to the emotional intelligence theory. In the second portion of the review, the literature focused on research that examined EI explicitly as a predictor of employee JS and JP. Salovey & Mayer (1990) introduced the notion of and provided the seminal and most frequently cited definition of emotional intelligence. Salovey and Mayer (1990) offered the following definition of emotional intelligence: "the capacity to reason about emotions, and of emotions, to enhance thinking. It includes the abilities to accurately perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth" (Salovey, Mayer & Caruso, p. 197 2004). Their construct of EI measured aptitude for perceiving, gauging, and expressing emotions. This construct also measured EI by skill for calculating feelings, thoughts, emotional understanding, emotional regulation, and emotional promotion (Salovey & Mayer, 1990). A noteworthy expansion to the EI concept from Salovey and Mayer (1993) was the verbal and non-verbal assessment and expression of EI, regulation of personal emotions as well as emotions of others, and the use of EI in problem-solving. Verbal and non-verbal EI levels took intelligence beyond standard cognition and the intelligence quotient. EI added another dimension of human behavior to measure and examine within people. Unlike EI, IQ focused on verbal knowledge, perception speed, short-term memory, spatial visualization, and other logical capabilities. EI provided a way to measure and asses ranges of personal emotions and knowing how to adjust those emotions depending on the emotions of others and what was transpiring in the current environment. Once EI was established as a construct, it went through another evolution. From 1920 to 1990, scholars theorized and legitimized EI in the human behavioral field. As Table 3 shows, Goleman (1995) started looking at EI through a business lens and developed another purpose for the study and application of EI.. EI was now a way to measure various skill levels vital to driving success through human resources. Not only was there a new tool for business managers to evaluate employees but also a measurement tool that could be more effective than measuring IQ (Goleman, 1995). Shortly after Goleman (1995) popularized EI, a consortium for research on EI was formed to dig deeper into the subject. The consortium went on to conduct a series of five studies. Study 1 examined EI levels among partners in a multinational consulting firm. Partners who scored above the median produced $1.2 million more in profits. Study 2 examined 300 toplevel executives among 15 global companies, and the results showed that six EI traits (influence, team leadership,